CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks with Brian Stelter about sensationalist news coverage of Ebola and why some people seemingly want to believe conspiracy theories about the disease. Some key quotes:

>> There have been "a lot of confusing messages that have come from higher-ups, you know, people who say one thing and then a couple weeks later modify those statements. I think it leads to a challenging of your faith in some of the systems, and that breeds some of this fear."
>> After "irrational fear," "the next step is then baseless speculation to make those irrational fears even worse." Stelter abbreviated "baseless speculation" to "B.S."
>> Stelter asked, "What's the theory you're finding yourself having to shoot down the most?" Gupta said, "The airborne one is big. You know, the idea that this is airborne somehow, that's not true. Also, this idea that people who are not sick could somehow be transmitting this."

The "ground zero" of Ebola is not Dallas, she emphasized, it's West Africa. "And we have to remember that," Yasmin said. "That has to stay the focus because as long as the epidemic continues there, we will continue to see imported cases to Dallas, to Texas, and to other parts of the world."

Yasmin joined the newspaper earlier this year. Yasmin said people in positions like hers "have a collective responsibility to reassure the public, but reassure them responsibly. Give them accurate information so they can make up their own mind."

Nielsen ratings are what's called the "currency" for the whole TV industry to buy and sell ads and determine what's popular and what's not.

"Nielsen recently admitted to a glitch, a software bug that affected broadcast ratings for months," Stelter said. While the bug was minor, "the incident just deepened the TV industry's mistrust of the company." FULL POST

Does he think it will come to that? "I don't know," he said. "I mean, I really don't know what the government is thinking now. And it's really kind of up to them at this point."

The prosecution has, in some cases, helped Risen in his reporting: "Some people have come to me and said, you know, I recognize the fact that you're willing to protect sources, so I'm willing to talk to you."

Risen's latest book is "Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War." Here's part of Stelter's exchange with him:

STELTER: You write in your book that crazy is the new normal when it comes to the war on terror. And the politicians and the press both dramatically overstate the risks to America from terrorists. If that's the case, why do we not hear that more on television? Why do we not read that more in newspapers and online?

RISEN: Oh, I think fear sells. And I think, unfortunately, it's easy to do a lot of fear-mongering and get ahead politically in the United States. You know, terrorism is a real threat, but we shouldn't be overstating it.

People worry about these groups, but they're not 10 feet tall. They're not marching down Broadway. They are, you know, we could deal with them without transforming our society.

That's what bothers me the most is we've allowed ourselves to become terrorized. And we've done that to ourselves. We've transformed American society in ways that were not necessary to deal with this threat.

About "Reliable Sources"

Now more than ever, the press is a part of every story it covers. And CNN's "Reliable Sources" is one of television's only regular programs to examine how journalists do their jobs and how the media affect the stories they cover.

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About the host

Brian Stelter is the host of "Reliable Sources" and the senior media correspondent for CNN Worldwide. Before he joined CNN in November 2013, Stelter was a media reporter for The New York Times. He is the author of the New York Times best-seller "Top of the Morning."